UROP Project

Reimagining Viewfinders: Recontextualizing how we frame cultural heritage through arts-based research

Studio Art, Arts-Based Research, Arts Installation
Flores_Headshot.jpg
Research Mentor: Ysabel Flores, She/her
Department, College, Affiliation: Department of Art, Fine Arts
Contact Email: ylf23@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Art and humanities majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes
Remote or In-person: In-person
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
  • Day: Wednesday, September 3
    Start Time: 4:00
    End Time: 4:30
    Zoom Link: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/84541432018?pwd=DbejjDtRIOKuvoD1gdXaE34UeDbLI1.1
  • Day: Friday, September 5
    Start Time: 12:00
    End Time: 12:30
    Zoom Link: https://us05web.zoom.us/j/89440594370?pwd=x1E3RepSSO9cUmavT4r7kUXy9k4MbF.1

Project Description

In my academic research, I address the systems that shape, inform, and mediate our attention for knowledge of marginalized identities. Although the world of ideas is often abstract, this project is an attempt to visualize these systems through studying the use and symbolic weight of the viewfinder. A viewfinder is a basic tool that is often used in drawing and photography to isolate objects and compose aesthetic arrangements to focus the viewer’s attention. This project involves the complete reimagining of what a viewfinder looks like to confront the invisible systems that covertly haunt our world in its most intimate spaces. Students who work with me will gain practical skills through studio practices which include matt-cutting, framing, and digital fabrication. Students will be exploring both analog and digital modes of framing practices. Using arts-based research methods they will learn how to process information in a visual way and how to express research in both written text and artistic making. By the end of the project, I hope students will come away with access to skills that will serve their own creative practices.

Research Tasks: Matt-cutting, laser-cutting using Trotec and/or the Prusa laser cutters in the digital FabLab, installing work following standardized hanging methods, stretching and stapling canvas to stretcher bars, and writing journal reflections.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Recommended: Basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator

Mentoring Philosophy

My goal as a mentor is to facilitate learning through creative and hands-on experiences. In academia, everyone comes from different backgrounds and perspectives of the world, and I find visual arts to be an exciting and progressive mode of comprehending ideas that can often exceed the reach of consuming written information. Reflecting on the writings about arts-based research, Patricia Leavy, I believe artists are practitioners of "a/r/tography" meaning they embody roles of artist, researcher, and teacher all in one. This project is designed for students to grow their problem-solving skills, offer practical knowledge of analog and digital fabrication, and improve creative research literacy. My goal is to broaden students' ideas of research and reimagine traditions of art making to communicate their own research interests in creative ways. I plan to work closely with students, understand our mutual goals, and offer clear guidelines for project expectations and learning outcomes.

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